#Graphic_Challenge One: Halloween Banner Critiques Okay, this thread is reserved for the Halloween Banner contest, where @Ellianna17 and I will be writing about the participant's artwork and doing what we can to help them improve. Feel free to respond to your feedback in this thread, but do be patient and respectful to the designers if we don't reply right away!

After all, we do have to critique 16 different submissions, which is a lot of work, so please wait and don't worry if we haven't gotten to you, yet! We will get there!

Forumotion Halloween Banner Contest

This is a really strong submission for our contest! You have a lot of excellent points to your banner: Smooth, clear font that is easy to read, a blue background that allows it to fit into the forum's theme perfectly, a wonderful use of icons to give it the Halloween feel, and an superb use for the challenge image that was provided in this contest.

I really like that the tree fades into the banner from the bottom, because this makes it look as though there is this "fog" that is just beginning to creep in, which also gives more purpose to the faded appearance of the background icons, in that they appear as though they could be faded into the fog. Essentially, this one effect adds quite a bit of dimension to your banner and it is very well done.

You do have really good movement with this banner; the eyes are directed to the text and the ghost through the use of the white arrow and through the branches of the tree that seem to "lean" into the text. There are also the icons, which seem to start next to the base of your tree and bow up and over through your text to follow that same direction of your tree branches, which accentuates this movement further. An image that provides good movement for the viewer makes the artwork more appealing, visually speaking. Excellent job.

I will say that the background icons do look a little scrunched in there between your two largest icons (the tree and the ghost), so maybe next time remember that you could spread them out a little more. The biggest focuses within your piece do not have to be your decorative limitations.

Lastly, I recommend having more of a color balance in your image. When you don't have a balanced artwork, this can scatter your viewer's eyes and take away from its movement. In this case, it almost visually places an invisible line between your white half and your black and orange half, which can take away from the movement in certain situations--in this situation, however, it doesn't take away from that movement, thanks to the placements mentioned above, so I still think this piece has excellent movement, regardless.

Favorite Features

My favorite feature consists of the fact that you took the support icons from the background and "Halloween-ized' them effectively while keeping them support related. Additionally, it's clear, crisp, modern, and easy to read. Wonderful work!

@Six Letters, here is my critique on your work. Enjoy reading it and thank you for joining the graphic challenge!

Graphic Challenge Critique

Forumotion Halloween Banner Contest

Six Letters

Challenge Completion

Font & Text Legibility

Color Choices

Harmony

Balance

Movement

Story

My Critique

Upon seeing the banner, I immediately noticed how you based it on the support forum. It looks great and simple. It is a strong proposal for the challenge, for it is smooth, the font used is readable, and the banner perfectly fits the blue background. I recommend that you "Halloween-ized" the support icons like what Zed did, making it more scary and perfect for the theme. You perfectly remade the hexagon background, but perhaps having it in a darker color would make a scary setting for the banner. The black text shadow and thick outline of the text, however, makes the banner less modern. I recommend you to "space out" the letters in the subtext so that it would be more readable, as well. But, overall, you did a great job.

The movement in your banner is great as well. The text is directly shown through the bats which seemed to be flying to the text and the icons which seemed to be guarding the text. The arrow allows the bats to move and guides the bats to the text and the pumpkin. The shapes in the background seemed to be pointing to the direction the bats are heading to, which makes the movement faster. The movement is fast, which allows the viewers to look at the main focus of the banner faster, which is the text. The background does not slow down the movement for it is not distracting. The movement sets the rhythm and flow of the elements, and you did quite a great job on this. The rhythm and flow you made using the symbols is modern. Excellent job!

The colors you used are complimentary, but I recommend mixing bright colors with bright colors and dark with dark colors, since the sudden change would hurt the eyes. I recommend that you keep them at the same phase, mixing bright orange with a calm shade of blue makes an immediate change of color and tricks the eyes. This would slow down the movement as it is distracting. Perhaps making the shade of orange a little darker would calm the colors. Despite this fact, the banner you made is harmonious and balanced. Every symbol is connected. A graphic without harmony and balance would look less interesting, and you managed to make it interesting. Well done!

The way you've hidden the image needed to be included is quite in the arrow is quite nice. When you added the bats next to the arrow pointing to the pumpkin, it added an amazing story. It tells that the bats are going to attack Forumotion, meaning Halloween is coming. As the pumpkin is often recognized as today's symbol for Halloween and you placed it near the Forumotion text, the banner is sending us a message that the support forum itself is ready and prepared for Halloween that will soon be coming. The story that the symbols you put in the banner made is interesting and very "Halloween."

Favorite Features

The story in which your banner told is very amazing. It is interesting and it is easy to recognize if one looks at the banner well. Besides the story, the banner you made is perfect for a support forum. It is modern, clean, clear, informative, and the font you used is readable. You kept it support-related which is a very nice addition to the banner. You did an excellent job and even though you didn't make it to the top three, seeing the banner you made is enough to convince everyone that you did!

Recommended Improvements

The banner you made is great! However, it may seem perfect but it also has flaws. I recommend that you work on making the banner cope more with the theme, since the banner you made doesn't have a strong connection to Halloween since there are only two symbols. Perhaps three to five symbols in the banner would look amazing! Maybe in making a modern banner, try not to darken the shadows and perhaps try not to add a thick border to the letters as it makes the text look less modern.

Forumotion Halloween Banner Contest

This banner submission has a great Halloween feel with excellent choices for renders, and a really good color blend throughout the imagery. I really like how easy it is to read the text, but the text does also look quite scrunched in, along with the renders. I highly recommend preventing any render distortion or text distortion in the future, because this will make it even easier to read.

You have a good balance in your banner and the movement is excellent, thanks to the way you used the image in the background to direct the viewer's eyes from render to render to text. However, I did have to give you a lower score on your harmony, because I didn't really see any of your images or text really blending together in any kind of scene. I couldn't see a story or a connection of any kind, so it all seemed a bit random and a little harder to understand.

Additionally, I also gave a lower score to your theme integration, because unfortunately, when placed on top of the forum (as previewed above), it doesn't really fit into the forum's theme or sit on top of the blue ribbon very well at all. It's always important to consider where your graphic is going to be located after it is completed and I don't really see this as something that will blend well if used. Perhaps, next time, when using a different background color, you could fade the edges so that your image "fades" into the forum's theme and fits just a little bit better.

Overall, however, you definitely mastered the Halloween theme and you chose some great resources to start with and build your banner from. Keeping the renders and text without any distortion would probably be one of the best improvements to aim for in your next creation, so I can't wait to see what you will come up with next.

Thank you for the review! To be honest, I really wasn't sure what to do for this contest, but seeing what others have done and what works best, I'll be sure to integrate it in my next attempt! Thank you for the time and the chance to shine~!

Forumotion Halloween Banner Contest

This banner is so beautiful. It consists of lovely colors to play off that blue background, but also incorporates the darker blacks and greys that are usually associated with Halloween. Very clever color choices and use of them to get that image from the challenge included into your work effortlessly.

Your text and fonts are clear and easy to read, your images and renders all harmonize together effortlessly, and your banner fits at the top of the forum wonderfully. I did give you a lower score on Movement and Balance, however, so let's talk about this. For your balance, I would like to talk about color and your icon choices. Your colors are lovely, and in fact, it's one of my favorite features of this banner, but you have color in the center from the challenge and the color behind the icons on the left side. Where is the color on the right?

Your banner switches (from right to left) to black and color, black color and white, to white and grey. The color choices are great, but there is no balance in them or any flow to how the colors change. Rather, it almost seems random or chaotic. Although these colors could still be made to work, your icons add to that chaos. The Grim Reaper, Halloween Text, and Tree are all huge focus icons, due to their larger size in comparison to the rest of your banner. These three focal points do not seem to fit together completely within your movement.

Your tree is alone, while the two others sort of move together. Your banner's movement starts at your challenge image, flowing into the Halloween text, which is then directed to your reaper with the white arrow. The curve of the reaper's blade moves with the challenge image, as well, which adds to the viewer's eye wanting to go left with the arrow even more. This is excellent use of your icons and great movement within your banner, but that tree is still alone and separated from the rest of the banner through both movement and color, which essentially almost places an imaginary line between it and the rest of your banner.

This adds a little to your chaos in your banner and can make it seem cluttered, out of focus, and can confuse your viewer with where their eyes are supposed to be. I will say that your focus of the banner is drawn to that imaginary circle that focuses around the reaper, the owl, and the bend of your arrow. A lot of your banner leads to this and that's great to have such a clever direction into one of your focal icons. I just wish this didn't take away from your tree on the right. If you had made that tree smaller than your Halloween text and your reaper, however, it wouldn't be an icon that screams for attention and then the movement would make a lot more sense.

Regardless, you have all of these smaller icons here and there to add to the flow of the banner to keep it from becoming bland or empty, which is great. Again, you added some lovely icons and have great text and font choices and I absolutely adore the color behind the icons on the right. This is a magnificent addition to our contest and I really do hope to see you participate in our next challenge.

Favorite Features

I absolutely love the font used for "Happy Halloween," as well as the text effects! I also love the colors added behind the icons on the right side--these added colors help to make that background render from the challenge blend in with the image a little bit better.

Forumotion Halloween Banner Contest

This banner fits perfectly into the Forumotion Forum, integrating perfectly through color, icons, and style. You have a great sense of movement with your background polygons moving into your bats, which are then directed to your icon set on the left across to the other side of your text through your arrow. Your font is simple and easy to read, the icons still give way to the purpose of the forum, and balance is superb. You have a large icons with three smaller ones on the left and a large bat with three smaller ones on the right with your text placed neatly at the center.

Although your bats and arrow take up much less space than your icons on the right, the background polygon pattern really adds to the empty space that the right side lacks, creating a good harmony for this banner overall. However, your colors don't really harmonize, at all. You have the varied colors on your left, but the orange pumpkins seem to just sit there alone with nowhere to go. The saturated orange takes it away from the darker and less saturated colors that are seen from the rest of the banner. The bats are also a dark black, but there is no black on the left at all, which can also take away from the overall color flow of the piece.

Additionally, I really feel there isn't enough Halloween in this banner. You have bats, which are obviously Halloween like, but the pumpkins could be for "autumn" or "harvest," rather than just Halloween. I really would have liked to see maybe a Halloween font or a few more Halloween icons within to give it more of a horror or dark feel.

And now, I'm gonna nitpick: Your shadows. You have some heavy dark shadows at one angle on your left icons, a short, heavy shadow in another angle on your text, and a shadowed glow on your arrow that tends to make the arrow look fuzzy against the blue background. These different shadows do not take away from your banner, overall, but I do want to say that I recommend using a lighter opacity on your shadows when placing it on a light background like this blue. When the shadow is too dark, it looks more like a blur or fuzzy feel against your icons instead of a drop shadow. I am calling this nitpicking because it doesn't really effect how I view your artwork, overall, and it's more suited to my personal tastes.

Lastly, the challenge image is added, but I feel it could have been incorporated better in your piece, rather than being used as an arrow. The entire purpose of an arrow, generally, is to provide movement within your piece. This still works for your banner, but the pattern that is now added doesn't really go with that movement, leading in different directions throughout and making it seem more chaotic. I love the breaks in the arrow on the farthest right side, because it adds a little originality and style into it, but the challenge image also takes away from this a bit, so I think the image would have been better used elsewhere.

Overall, excellent balance and movement, as well as a marvelous theme integration to fit into our forum's theme. This is a strong submission into our contest and I do hope to see your artwork next time. Thank you for participating into this Graphic Challenge!

Favorite Features

I love how you added the Forumotion Icons and the background texture--that background texture adds a little movement and flavor to your banner and it fits perfectly with the theme. Excellent work!

Forumotion Halloween Banner Contest

This banner is simple and integrates into the forum's theme perfectly. Most of the text is easy to read, your icons are colorful and your overall balance is fabulous. You added some support icons, which still add to the forum's purpose, so that's great, though the green of one of your support icons doesn't blend well into that blue background, so the color does take away from the harmony a little there.

I did take away from your font legibility and color, because the orange in your Happy Halloween text doesn't blend well into your sign and that makes it rather difficult to read. Due to the sub-text of the forum being smaller, the gradient used there does make the text slightly harder to read, but it's still legible and the main text is definitely legible, so that's good.

Your movement for this piece starts at the center of your cobweb and then expands out to its edges, leading your viewer's eyes onto the text and icons quite nicely. The addition of the occasional spider adds to the web's design and texture and putting a little color into all of that extra space. Although the web cuts off before it reaches the icons on the left, the text continues onward and keeps that movement going nicely. Well done.

However, I think I'd really like to see more effects for movement going on. Although this banner has great movement, it's mostly done by the web alone, through it's expansion and it still, for the most part, leaves those icons on the right alone. This can just slightly take away from your balance if the icons are excluded too much and if your text hadn't been placed just the way it was, it really could have taken away from your banner.

Lastly, the sign seems a bit pixelated on the edges, as does the Forumotion speech logo, so high quality blending would really have made this submission a lot stronger for this contest. Regardless, this banner is a great submission and thank you so much for participating into our contest. I hope to see you next time!

Favorite Features

My favorite feature is the clever use of the challenge image by making it blend in with the sign while also giving it the function of being an added texture to represent slots for connection the chain that holds it up from above. Very intuitive.

Forumotion Halloween Banner Contest

This banner has magnificent movement. The arch of the cemetery at the bottom, as well as the following motion of the sub-text leads the viewer's eyes up to the forum's main text and over to the white and green of the reaper on the right. The attention to the reaper is further accentuated with the line drawn from the reaper's scythe, which leads the movement back up and into the white "fog" and towards the main text once more. The text is all easy to read and clear, the balance is set with the two larger icons on either side of your text, and the way the challenge image is used is very clever.

The image is turned white, which helps to bring more focus to that area, and sort of gives way to a moon and a lifting fog that seems to rise up from behind your reaper icon on the right. This is some great imagery and adds to the Halloween feel of your banner without the addition of yet another icon, which there really isn't much room for. Well done!

However, I took points away from your color choices due to the fact that you have a lot of black in this piece, one red text, and one white image. These two colors seems random due to their rarity, which takes away from the focus and balance of your banner just so slightly. The red text stands out so much that it appears to be the main text of your forum when "Forum of the Forums" should really be the more dominant of the two. I really wish there was just a little more red and white added elsewhere to accentuate the overall color balance of the piece and to help them blend into the banner more.

I also took one point away from your theme integration because the webbing cuts off on the right edge there, which slightly takes away from your piece when placed onto the forum's theme. The cut off makes the banner appear limited on the overall ribbon and makes it seem more cluttered than it really is. If the webs didn't cut off on the edge there, I believe the illusion of the clutter would disappear and it would appear more spaced out. Still, the blue is there and it goes well with the forum, overall, so you did a wonderful job.

There really isn't much else to say, because you really did do a lot of things right. That movement is by far some of the most excellent and subtle use of movement I have seen so far and it really directs the eyes in the perfect way to be both visually appealing for a first impression and to slowly guide the viewer to appreciate each section of the banner over time with taste. A lovely submission; thank you for participating in our contest!

Favorite Features

My favorite feature are the web-textures in the background and the awesome "rugged" look that the cross has, as well as the integration of our long lost friend, the Forumotion Monster. Haven't seen him in a while!

Recommended Improvements

Color Balance

A Forumotion Graphic Challenge Critique

Last edited by Leah7 on November 15th 2015, 6:58 am; edited 1 time in total

Forumotion Halloween Banner Contest

Lovely Halloween feel in this banner! You have great icon integration into your banner text with a splash of color added to help that challenge image fit into the black and blue a little bit more. The text is clear and easy to read, it fits into the forum's theme perfectly, and the clever transition of the challenge image into leaves for your tree is just marvelous.

I did notice that your bottom render cuts off on the edges near the banner's base, but I really had to pay attention to notice that. Still, it can take away from the theme integration a bit, but this time there was just so little cut off that I decided not to take away from your theme integration score.

I did, however, take away from your balance and movement, because there doesn't really seem to be any movement in this piece. Your bats, the tree, and witch almost want to move upwards and slightly to a side, but there's just so little there that as a viewer, I'm uncertain as to what the focus of the banner should be, other than the text. As for your balance, I was going to count off for colors, due to the fact that you had coloration on the right side and in the center for your text, but none on the left...however, I then realized that you have the moon on the left and in the center from the text, so it really actually balanced out quite well. Excellent work.

However, I did keep the score because you have much more black on your right side, due to the text taking up much more focus than a few of your bats and you have the support icons faded out on the right side to add more white, but those don't really show up on the right side at all. The tree and the icon in front of the moon balance out perfectly, but the Happy Halloween text looks big and lonely on the other side without any extra icons in the background like the bats have.

Regardless, the balance issues are really just small issues in this, overall, and I feel like the biggest thing that needs the most improvement is your movement, as line movement within any visual art makes it instantly more appealing to viewers, as well as assists with adding a focus to your art to tell a sort of visual story.

However, this banner is simple, modern and flat, fits the theme so smoothly, and still provides some support icons to accentuate the forum's purpose. This is such a strong submission into the contest and I know that you can do even better, so I hope to see you next time. Thanks so much for participating!

Favorite Features

I absolutely love the text decorations and I am impressed by the use of the challenge image!

Forumotion Halloween Banner Contest

Your banner has great use of the challenge image, which indicates a great sense of direction for the viewer throughout. It fits onto the blue background splendidly, the icons give way to the Halloween feel wonderfully, the bats give add to the direction and provide an overall flow and provides the darker hues for that Halloween theme that the banner needs.

Your color choices are superb for the majority of this banner, but the orange pumpkin really throws off your balance with its color and size. It is much larger than your white ghost on the right and there is no other orange anywhere to be found on the image, so this really pulls away from your banner's focus a bit. When I first looked at your submission, my eyes went straight to the pumpkin, rather than to the text or anything else, which also accentuated that it cuts off on the ege, there, which is why I took away from your theme integration.

It doesn't fit onto the forum as smoothly as it could, when the edges cut off the way that this one has for the pumpkin. If the pumpkin had been better balanced or fit in with its color a bit more, I honestly believe that it wouldn't have been as noticeable and it wouldn't have harmed your theme integration score.

Unfortunately, your text is a bit hard to read, especially the forum's title, "forum of the forums," so I had to take away from that. You made the text black and red on top of a really dark image in the background, so the colors make the text almost invisible. Additionally, the text on this banner is really small, except for "Happy Halloween" and that makes it more difficult to read, as well. One of the most important features of a banner is legibility, so always remember to make sure your font and text size is easy to read.

Still, the challenge image is positioned so wonderfully that it seems to flow into the central text and one of the circles moves around that witch to bring it into focus and then lead into the text, which is an excellent use of the image to provide movement throughout the image. You also have another circular part of the image showing on the left side of the text, which just brings more focus into that text, and the bat icons both successfully move inwards to accentuate that movement further, so this banner is really visually appealing within an instant.

I really like your artwork and I do hope to see you next time. Thank you so much for participating and I look forward to seeing you share with us again!

Favorite Features

My favorite features are the balance of the bats in the background and the cute witch icon that decorates the text with just a bit of color. Great job!

Forumotion Halloween Banner Contest

This banner is absolutely stunning. The greys and blacks really mesh well into each other and the cleverly added texture in the background from the challenge image really adds an opaque sense of movement and direction from your text and into the left side of the banner where a lot of your focus remains from the larger icons. Your font is clear and easy to read while also being decorative and the support icons indicate the purpose of the forum wonderfully.

I told myself when I started this event that I'd probably end up giving a low score to anyone that didn't have a blue or transparent background on their banner, because I just couldn't see any other color meshing well into the forum's theme all that fantastically. However, you have proven my expectations to be wrong. The color still doesn't fit well into the banner's ribbon and the theme integration isn't smooth, but the banner still fits at the top of the forum due to the thin, black border that you placed around it. This border prevents it from just simply cutting off at the edges with nowhere to go and just makes the color switch more sensible. Great work.

The only other thing that I took away from your score was balance, due to the fact that you have quite a bit of yellow on the left side of your banner and not the right. The yellow is still a fantastic color to add to this piece, and it really blends in well and helps those icons to pop, but they really pull away from the banner's text and distracts from the overall movement of the image. I think that if you had added just a bit of this color on the right side, as well, or perhaps within the text, the lack of balance would be eliminated.

However, the Halloween face restores quite a bit of that focus and your color blend and the emptier space above and below the text really helps to bring the focus in enough that it doesn't take away from your banner's movement or from your balance too greatly. Those icons have good placements where the web leads into the text, which leads into your bats and then into the support icons and your tree, etc...a lot of visual fun. The banner looks fabulous and I really hope to see more from you in the future; Thank you so much for participating! I hope to see you next time.

Favorite Features

My favorite features are your font choice and the texture of the banner on the left side provided by the challenge image in the background. You're one of the few to use the challenge image as more of a "texture" or pattern, so it is just really pleasant and well used. I also just love how fun this banner looks!

Wow!I got really high rating points.Thanks for your opinion, @Leah7!And yeah, of course I will try to participate in all of these challanges or similar contests, also I will continue to help in Graphic Design section.I really enjoyed to read this, keep going Forumoiton Graphic Design Team!

Forumotion Halloween Banner Contest

You have submitted a really lovely banner with an excellent font choice that is clear and easy to read. It integrates into the forum's the rather perfectly and the use of the challenge image provides an excellent source of movement from icon to icon throughout the image to make it more visually appealing. Your balance, for the most part, is on par and has equal levels of action going on for each side.

However, I did take away a little from your balance and harmony scores due to the fact that your banner is really quite cluttered. Everything but the text is a little huge, which should be the main focus, but it's overshadowed by all of the action that's going on around it in so many different directions. The tombstone pivot in the middle is lovely, but it's looking a little cramped and even claustrophobic. Overall, it's just too busy and too directional in so many different areas.

I also feel like there could have been more color in this piece, but that's not really required and it's more to my personal tastes, so I wouldn't mark your score down for that. It's really beautiful and the added dark blue hue from the challenge image added some fun to this banner, I just feel like we could have used a little more space. This is a strong submission for the contest, so I really do hope to see you next time and see what else you can bring to the table.

I'd also like to thank @RadioTanuki for his input for this review, because he also added some words in here to help me with how exactly to word some of this critique properly.

Favorite Features

My favorite features are the color choices for the challenge image and the awesome text decorations where the letter "o" is replaced with an awesome Halloween icon. Really awesome work; thank you for participating!

Forumotion Halloween Banner Contest

You have presented a very professional banner that integrates into the theme perfectly; it was truly made for the support forum's skin. Your text is clear and easy to read, as well as a good and smooth mixture of both a simplistic font as well as that of a more Halloween-styled font. The use of the challenge image is fabulous and clever, giving the moon just the perfect amount of texture and glow to provide depth while still keeping the overall banner flat and modern.

There isn't much movement in this piece, and that is really all I can honestly recommend for improvement. You have some foggy clouds that are horizontal to move the viewer's eyes left and right to move with the text, which is nice and simple, but I would really have liked to see more, I think. Additionally, there's isn't much here that's yours. You used a lot of icons and placed them on here, which is great, but I really feel like you aren't putting enough of your own style and personality into this piece.

Overall, this is a great submission and I could barely count down your scores for your marvelous work, but I do hope to see you next time and to see a bit more of your personal creativity in what you present for us. Thank you for sharing this lovely work with us.

Favorite Features

Flat, Modern Style and the very clever use of the challenge image! Thanks for participating!

Recommended Improvements

Movement & More Original Work

A Forumotion Graphic Challenge Critique

Last edited by Leah7 on November 20th 2015, 11:19 pm; edited 1 time in total

Forumotion Halloween Banner Contest

This banner is so adorable! The icons are really a good choice and the fact that you made some of the creatures from the challenge image is inspired. The banner text and arrow provide a bit of movement to move from side to side between your two focal points of the larger icons, which also provides great balance. I think I'd like to see more movement in the future, but you still have some from the clouds behind the moon spreading outwards and the bats also moving outwards and downwards into your text.

Some smaller details that I recommend for improvement are your text--although it is super easy to read, the edges are very rough and pixelated. The better quality of text used, the more professional your image will appear. Overall, you used some bright colors here and there, varied throughout, but the "Happy Halloween" text color really doesn't look as fantastic on top of that blue.

You have used your challenge image a lot--really a bit too much. It is great to see how many different ways that you can take something so vague and make it your own and I applaud your creativity. However, due to the randomness of your colors, the shift in colors and changes of direction from your challenge images that you've placed here and there (as well as the number of times that you used the challenge image), it really scatters your harmony and makes the banner look scattered and confused.

This takes away from the focus of your piece and adds chaos to the overall design and story to your work and can lower the understanding of the theme that you're trying to express. Regardless, the banner fits into the forum's theme rather well and sits at the top without any disturbance and you still kept Forumotion's Logo and support icons to give more of the forum's purpose a little attention, which is fabulous.

Thank you so much for participating--you did a great job and I hope to see you next time so that we can help you to improve further. Your art is making wonderful progress!

Favorite Features

I love the bats made from the challenge image and the awesome scare-crow/pumpkin icon used!

Forumotion Halloween Banner Contest

Your submission is just absolutely perfect for the forum's theme. Your icons and text are all flat, simple, and modern and the overall color choices fit onto the background blue very smoothly. The addition of the eyes into the text is just stunning and very creative; I just love how it adds just a bit of color to balance out the orange behind the house icon on the right so that it's not too lonely. You also balanced your colors marvelously when you added the small, white ghosts throughout the scenery to balance out that big, white moon on the right.

My biggest suggestion for your piece is to provide some more of the challenge image, next time. Your use of the image is, in fact, quite creative, but there is so little of it in there that I couldn't tell that you used the image at all. It's always important to be sure that your requester can tell that you've completed all of their requirements and minor details that they have asked for.

I also don't really see much movement in your banner at all, other than from the text, itself, and the trees that lead up and into the text. I'd like to see some more of that next time, perhaps, but your text is very large, clear, and easy to read. You've also added your own support icons in the background throughout the image so as to keep it from being too empty and adding a bit of excitement for the viewer's eyes and that was quite effective.

Wonderful work!! The added bats above the text also helps to balance out the large amount of black on the bottom of your banner. That's three different occasions where you balance out your piece with just a bit of color and I am impressed that you provided balance with just color alone, rather than icons and other such techniques. Thank you for participating and I hope to see your submission for our next challenge.

Favorite Features

The eyes in the text and the cute, little ghosts are my favorite features!

Forumotion Halloween Banner Contest

This is a really cool looking banner, especially with that creepy face in the center of the moon. I like that all of the text is super easy to read with a clear, simplistic font. Your color choices are nice, as well as the overall balance of the piece, and the small touch of occasional spiders adds a bit of fun for the viewer.

This first thing that I'd like to address is your color balance. You have a lot of black on this banner. Black is great for a Halloween feel, so it's a great choice, but you only have one, white, central element to your banner and the challenge image is the only part of your banner that provides any color. I really feel like this banner would have a lot more visual appeal if there was more white and color elsewhere, so that those images don't stick out so much and blend in with your image more.

Secondly, I took a point from your movement and theme integration because the majority of your movement only comes from your webs, but they don't really lead to anything except themselves. Your text is off in the corner, and it should be a focus, but here it is more of a side note. A lot of your piece is just horizontal and the focus of the colors of the white moon and challenge image really take away from the text even more, so there's not much direction to tell much of a story in your artwork.

The webs cut off on the edges of the image, as well, which adds these invisible lines that separate your banner from the rest of the blue ribbon that spreads across the forum. This stops it from blending into the forum less effectively and makes the banner look even more cluttered and chaotic.

The last thing I took from your score is the challenge image use. You placed it behind some of your text, which brings a little focus to it due to the difference in color, but it also isn't really blending into the overall image very well at all. It's just there, for the text to sit on and the image just looks really out of place and as if it doesn't belong there due to the fact that its coloration is so different from the rest of your banner and the fact that there is no form of blending into the background. One way you could have blended it into the image would have been to fade the edges into the blue background or to change the text color that is on top of it into a color or colors that fit within the image's coloration while still being visible.

Still, you showed a lot of personal expression in this piece with your original work, you definitely dominated the banner with a Halloween feel due to the creepy face and small spiders and webs, and I think the challenge image added into the moon makes the face look a little more creepy, as well. You did some great work, but I know that you can do better, so I truly hope to see you next time. Thank you for participating!

Favorite Features

You have a lot of self-made creations, which is wonderful, and I also love your scary face on the moon!

Forumotion Halloween Banner Contest

Your submission into this year's Halloween banner contest is super fun and very colorful. I think it has excellent Halloween-like colors, an easy to read and clear font, superb balance, and the challenge image is included quite well. I really like how the multiple renders in your background lead upwards and outwards on both sides from the pumpkin and into your text, helping to give it that additional focus so that the pumpkin doesn't take away from your text even more.

However, I recommend adding more focus to your text in the future--when it is a banner, specifically, the forum's title should always be your image's primary focus. Another recommendation that I might add is your Harmony. What I see when I look at this banner is a dark background picture, two renders placed on top, and then your text and pumpkin icon placed on top of that. It's like a stack of different levels, which is a form of complexity, but it isn't enough. These images and layers don't really seem to blend in together or flow together in any complimentary pattern. Perhaps try using different effects and positioning in the future to add more of a story to your piece.

Lastly, your lowest score is in theme integration because it does not fit in with the forum's theme at all. As you can see in the image I have above, it cuts off at the edges rather suddenly into the blue ribbon and the images (such as the house on the right) really clash against that blue and seem to be interrupted and limits the banner image, itself. One way you could have kept your background while improving your integration would have been to faded the left and right edges out so that they seem to "fade" into the ribbon. I highly recommend considering the background on which your banner will go in the future.

Overall, you made a great banner and I just love that you chose such a professional and easy to read font with cool effects and text decoration for the top line of text. That text decoration really helps the text to blend in with the banner's background and make it really belong. Great work! I look forward to seeing more of your work in the future and thank you so much for participating.

Favorite Features

My favorite features consist of the excellent font choice and the lovely color variations!

Forumotion Halloween Banner Contest

This banner is a lovely creation! I particularly love how smoothly it fits into the forum's theme and how easy it is to read the banner's text. The skull is a nice touch and I do really enjoy the faded out words in the banner. It isn't very often that you see someone use text as a decoration, rather than as a focus, but when done properly, it can be really fun and visually appealing. Additionally, your color choices are great and blend well with the forum's theme colors. Great job!

I did take a point away from your font choice, because I really feel like that there wasn't enough of a Halloween feel in it. It looks mostly like a grunge font, which could work if it is used in a zombie/gore theme, but with a white font, it's a little more difficult to pick up on in that way. Additionally, I really feel like your text could have been placed inside the image a little more strategically. Right now, it's in the center, spaced about, which is a great way to give focus to your banner title, but it isn't the best way when it's so spaced out and there's so much empty room going on around it.

There really isn't any movement in your image at all, so it's sort of like there are just images here and there, scattered about randomly with no particular focus. Although your text does have some minor focus due to its central location, a lot of your other images, such as the skull and wolf, have just as much focus due to their darker color, which accentuates their value in the banner. Other than adding movement to a banner through icons and renders, I also recommend placing your text near a focal point from the "rule of thirds" if you prefer not use movement as a form of connecting your text to your image. If you don't know what that is, just message me and I can explain it. ^^

The only other thing I subtracted was your harmony, which is only taken away because it just looks as though your text and icons are just floating on top of the banner here with no particular purpose or focus. They are all just scattered about and it seems a bit messy and somewhat confusing. Blending some images into your background could help, as well as the recommendations mentioned above.

However, the banner looks great and it fits into our theme colors, which I do really appreciate. I would have liked to see more of the challenge image, but you still used it in a very clever and abstract way and took advantage of the inner shapes and made it your own. Excellent work; I really do hope to see you next time and thank you so much for participating in this challenge with us.

Favorite Features

My favorite features are the way you used the challenge image and how wonderfully the webs in the background faded and blended into the banner's background. Well done!

Forumotion Halloween Banner Contest

This banner is super fun with the really cool pumpkin and the darker render in the background. I love how shiny text effects really make that text pop and shine against the darker background color! It's really a beautiful effect and it definitely makes that Halloween feel become more evident as you look about the image. You have a solid icon set on the right of the text and then a solid icon set on the left that is very similar in side, which sets out a great balance for the banner and provides a sort of placeholder for your text to accentuate it's central relevance and purpose to the image.

I did take away from your movement because I really feel like there is too little of it. You have some minor movement in the background render with the buildings and the bats--they provide a slight vertical motion to your text, but it really pulls away from the icons on the sides, which I feel should be a little more relevant in this particular piece. Although the banner is perfectly balanced and well blended with the color choices, I really just wish to see more movement and action in the banner, overall.

Another thing I'd like to note is that I took quite a bit of points away from your theme integration score. When making a banner for any forum, it is always important to make sure that it fits into the top of the forum and the forum's theme well. Unfortunately, the darker color you have chosen in your banner looks great, but it doesn't match into the theme colors at all and it really clashes against the blue ribbon that it sits on. Instead of having a sudden change in color from the banner into it's background that it sits on, I recommend fading out the edges, so that one color and shift into the other more smoothly.

The way you included the challenge image is quite unique! You used it as an abstract render, focused as a focal point in your banner, even though it has no definite purpose. Due to how well it fits next to the pumpkin and the bright color that gives it a good blend with the pumpkin, it is really well done and I like how you included it. Really wonderful work. Thank you for participating in our Challenge and I really do hope to see you next time!

Favorite Features

I love the interesting and unique use of the challenge image and the text effects. Very beautiful!

Forumotion Halloween Banner Contest

I want to start with saying that I just LOVE these super cute and fun icons that you chose! They pop out just beautifully on top of that darker background and it just looks so fun and you can definitely see that Halloween theme so easily and immediately when you first glace at the banner. Your font is clear and easy to read and the support icons between the two texts really connect them well and shows the purpose of the forum, as a bonus. Great job!

There really isn't any movement in your image at all, so it's sort of like there are just images here and there, scattered about randomly with no particular focus. Although your text does have some minor focus due to its central location, a lot of your icons are significantly larger than the text, so it really plays down that focus even more and adds to the chaos of the overall banner.

I also noticed that harmony is another area where you could work on a little more, which is only lowered in score because it just looks as though your text and icons are just floating on top of the banner here with no particular purpose or focus. They are all just scattered about and it seems a bit messy and somewhat confusing. Blending some images into your background could help, as well as the recommendations mentioned above.

Another thing I'd like to note is that I took quite a bit of points away from your theme integration score. When making a banner for any forum, it is always important to make sure that it fits into the top of the forum and the forum's theme well. Unfortunately, the darker color you have chosen in your banner looks great, but it doesn't match into the theme colors at all and it really clashes against the blue ribbon that it sits on. Instead of having a sudden change in color from the banner into it's background that it sits on, I recommend fading out the edges, so that one color can shift into the other more smoothly.

However, the way you used the challenge image is super cool! It's placed into a circular text that gives it a large size than your other icons and gives it a primary focus. However, the challenge image is an abstract render, which really means that when you use it as an icon, rather than as an effect or a blending tool, it really has to be given a purpose and used in a way that allows the viewer to interpret what it represents in the banner. I don't really see what your image is, so that really can make things confusing.

Regardless, the circular text is really fun and well made, and I just think your overall creation is very fun and enjoyable to look at, despite the chaotic nature of it. I think you did a great job and I really do hope to see you next time so that we can grow and improve our skills together. I look forward to seeing your skills grow and thank you so much for participating in our challenge with us!

Favorite Features

The bright colors in your icons that shine brightly over such a dark background color are super pretty and fun! I also love the icon choices, because most of these icons are just adorable and also add more fun to your piece.

Thank you Leah for your Critique on my very first banner I agree with you on the pictures being just put in there..I didn't really know what to do..and as for the black background when I got the pictures and tried to put them on the blue or even grey background they just didn't work because the pictures were black in background..and so they just didn't make any since..but after I started experimenting I was able to get rid of the black on the pictures but by that time the contest was over..but I did learn lol..just have to remember what I did right for the next time and believe me there will be a next time haha

Thank you Leah the Critique was better than I expected..and I thank you for that..I know I will be coping and pasting this Critique onto office to use it in the future..for anything I do..